Working out after the birth of your baby
What you Need to Know about Postpartum Recovery and your Return to Exercise
At FITMOM Durham we pride ourselves on our postpartum protocol that gets women back to their more advanced workouts without incident and injury free.
We’re sharing some of our best practices below!
Have a full assessment with a pelvic floor physiotherapist who will help support you towards reaching your personal goals and finding comfort and strength in your body
Focus on rehabilitation during the early weeks. Practice diaphragmatic breathing, gentle stretches and coordination for your pelvic floor with movement- Bridge Lifts and clam shells are two gentle exercises that can assist with mind/body connection between your core & pelvic floor
Increase time over intensity. Start with short walks and gradually build up to walking 30 min.
When you feel ready start with some gentle body weighted exercises
Be patient with your recovery and slowly progress to higher impact exercises over the course of around six months postpartum. One of the main reasons we recommend easing into high impact activity is that the pregnancy hormone relaxin, which is responsible for softening tendons and ligaments which make joints less stable, is still present for up to five months postpartum (and possibly longer for breastfeeding women). Resuming higher impact activities to soon can increase the risk of injury due to joint instability and can increase the pressure/stress on the pelvic floor and abdominal wall.
Build up to 2-3 strength training exercises a week. Curate a culture of consistency!
It might be very easy to write off these recommendations and go full steam ahead if you’re not experiencing any negative symptoms. Many women actually experience symptoms in the longer term that ultimately derail their recovery and reduce activity levels.
These guidelines are the minimum we recommend, but they don’t mean you can’t still have challenging workouts! Your workouts after having a baby should be tailored so that they take into consideration your well being and long term health. A postnatal fitness specialist is a great person to enlist to help you get back to exercising again after your baby is born.
Are you ready to #Jointhemotherhood? We’d love to have you join us to connect with other people in your community and receive expert instruction for a fun, safe and effective workout during your child bearing years. Try out our classes with our New to FITMOM 3 Class Pass for new FITMOMs!